Federal records show $142 million in highway grants for four Sterling Highway projects

Federal spending records updated Monday show more than $142 million in Federal Highway Administration formula grants for four Sterling Highway projects on the Kenai Peninsula. The money goes to the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, with grant periods running as late as March 2032.

The largest award, $84.2 million, funds stages 3 and 4 of the Sunrise Inn to Skilak Lake Road project, part of the Cooper Landing bypass. Those stages are the main construction of the new highway east and west of Juneau Creek, connecting back to the existing Sterling Highway. The grant period ends Oct. 31, 2027. A separate $34 million grant covers the Juneau Creek Bridge itself.

Two more grants totaling $28.1 million fund Stage 1B, the eastern stage of the same project, covering reconstruction, drainage, intersection and ADA work, and utility relocations through Jan. 15, 2031.

Other grants include $13.8 million for the Sterling Safety Corridor between Sterling and Soldotna, mileposts 82.5 to 94, which widens the highway to a divided four-lane road with bike and pedestrian paths, and $16.1 million to resurface mileposts 43 to 56 through April 15, 2030.

State Sen. Jesse Bjorkman raised concerns about the safety corridor during a Sept. 24 Senate Transportation Committee hearing, citing its effects on driveway access and left turns. Deputy Commissioner Katherine Keith addressed the Cooper Landing bypass at the same hearing. "There's a total of $235 million of new work programmed over this 4 years," she said, referring to the state's draft four-year road plan, with another major stage beginning in fiscal 2027.